Contributions from our Members: "We Gather Together" ... I would like to share some snippets from one of the Thanksgivings in Mitford. Sit back and enjoy the characters, the descriptions, the action, the food, the prayers, and the love woven throughout Jan Karon's Mitford ...

I'm doing a discussion board post on this passage. It is directed towards Christians, but my question, which I probably won't address in my DB, is this: What responsibility, if any, do we have to point out or address sin in unbelievers? We can't expect those who are in the dark, spiritually, to act or behave like believers, yet we still get upset when they do not. We hold them to a standard that we ourselves cannot keep (kind of like the Pharisees, right?)

Yet unbelievers love to throw this verse out at us when we call out sin for what it is. But when they do not recognize it as sin, because the world has now "legitimized" it, then what?

Unbelievers, and many Christians, take that verse right out of context.

It doesn't mean we're not to judge. The very next thing after "judge not, that you be not judged," is:

"For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you."

The passage *assumes* that you WILL judge, and just lets you know that the way you judge others is the way you will be judged.

It then goes on to talk about removing the plank in your eye before trying to address the speck in your brother's eye.

It's all about looking at your own sin before you go after someone else's and about being gracious in dealing with sin.

Note that you remove the plank from your own eye BEFORE removing the speck from your brother's eye, so that you can see clearly to remove the speck. (v.5).

The whole passage continues to refer to "brothers" so I don't know that it applies to unbelievers. I don't usually feel it necessary to point out the sin of an unbeliever, but would rather show them love and point them to Christ and salvation. They are usually aware that I believe their sin is sin...but I don't dwell on that with unbelievers.

"Should Not Perish" ... Have any of you seen the guy with multi-colored hair who would show up at all sorts of sporting events holding a sign that said, "John 3:16"? I would always shout out, "There is that crazy guy with the hair!" ... Years later when I was saved, that verse finally had meaning and what meaning it held!! It was probably the first verse I memorized.